This essay is adapted from a chapter in the edited volume Mind the Children: How to Think About the Youth Mental Health Collapse.

Americans are searching for an answer to the youth mental health crisis. While many experts rightfully scrutinize smartphones and social media as culprits, another profound shift deserves our attention: the dramatic retreat from religion in American life. As religious participation plummets, particularly among young people, we’re losing the profound social and psychological benefits once provided by religious communities. And our rapidly secularizing society has failed to offer compelling alternatives to replace religion’s protective effects on mental health.